Florida residents had already logged more than 8,000 complaints with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s price-gouging hotline by late Saturday but officials say they expect those numbers will only continue to rise when Hurricane Irma is gone.

Most of the complaints filed so far deal with excessive prices being charged for water, ice, food and fuel, a spokesman for the office said. The initial calls came mostly from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties and moved north as people began evacauting.

“We have received more than 8,000 complaints about alleged price gouging at this point and our operators and investigators continue to take calls and track down leads,” Gerald Whitney Ray said Saturday evening.

The most recent information available suggested the later calls came mostly south of Interstate 4, he said.

Many South Floridians were outraged by the excessive prices charged by some for essential items as they prepared for the storm.

One reader emailed photos of gas pumps at a Shell station on Vineland Avenue in Orlando that appeared to show prices of $5.99 a gallon for regular gas, $6.49 for Plus and $6.99 for Shell V-Power Nitro+.

After Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, there were reports of some businesses charging $20 for a gallon of gas and $99 for a case of water, according to state officials. Many of the hundreds of complaints logged in the days after that storm dealt with gas stations charging $6 to $8 per gallon.

Others complained they were charged double the normal price for a hotel room.

Experts call it reverse-looting in the aftermath of major disasters, including Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

State laws, enacted after Hurricane Andrew, prohibit extreme increases in the price of essentials — food, water, ice, gasoline, lumber and hotel rooms that consumers need in an official emergency.

Violators face civil penalties of $1,000 per violation and up to $25,000 for multiple violations in a 24-hour period.

The law compares the price of the item or service during the state of emergency to the average price charged in the month before the declared state of emergency. Investigators call it price gouging if there is a “gross disparity” between the two charges.

Some experts argue that dramatically increasing the price for items like generators and lumber is a normal part of the economy. They say it encourages people to buy only what they truly need and provides incentives to entrepreneurs to get supplies to people willing to pay the going price — ultimately causing the prices to normalize as businesses supply the demand.

In South Florida, some consumers said they understood the tradeoff they were making and chose convenience and necessity over frugality as the hurricane loomed.

Plantation resident Samantha Downie said she knows she paid about twice the normal price for three empty gas cans to store fuel for her family’s generator. But she says it was totally worth it for the convenience factor.

Some Broward County residents express their frustrations with Hurricane Irma on plywood. You have a sign we should feature? Send pic to yourphotos@sun-sentinel.com or upload it at https://community.sun-sentinel.com/

(Carline Jean)

The 52-year-old human resources director for a local accounting firm said she knows the sellers were price-gouging when they charged $80 for two 5-gallon cans and $25 for a 2-gallon can. She spent more on the plastic tanks than gasoline to fill up her car and the three containers.

“I didn't mind the prices, actually, as it was that or go without my generator working,” Downie said. “I had ordered everything else — like batteries and water — on Amazon, but forgot the cans and it was too late to order them.”

Downie is an avid seller and buyer on the OfferUp app, where she found the sellers. After more than 150 transactions, she said she’s never had a bad experience with buyers or sellers.

“When I couldn't find cans [in local stores] I just opened my app and within 25 minutes I had 3 and was filling them up with gas,” she said. “Prices are generally super reasonable. This was the first price gouging I saw but supply and demand will do that. I saw far worse on there, like $75 for a can.”

In the aftermath of hurricanes, investigators say it’s a given that scams involving charities and home repairs will escalate.

Bondi is already working with GoFundMe, which allows organizations and individuals to solicit online donations from the public, to try to stop fraudsters from taking advantage of people who want to help victims of the storm.

“She has reached out to GoFundMe and is working with them to be proactive and let us know about any suspicious activity they see so that we can investigate it and take any appropriate action,” Mason said.

Officials in the Florida Keys are evacuating some 460 inmates and 125 corrections officers from a jail on Stock Island to a facility in Palm Beach County.

Spokeswoman Becky Herrin said that Sheriff Rick Ramsey made the decision Friday night because of the changing path of Hurricane Irma.

The jail...

(The Associated Press)

GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said contributors are protected by the company’s guarantee that “the funds go to the right place or donors will get their money back.”

Donors can contact the campaign organizer directly with questions or report suspicious activity directly to GoFundMe by clicking on the “Report Campaign” button on the website.

Other state departments are also taking measures to discourage or clamp down on fraudulent appeals for help.

Before donating, officials recommend researching charitable organizations on the FloridaConsumerHelp.com website, which shows the final information that registered charitable organizations report to Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The Better Business Bureau has a searchable database and you can report suspicious activity on its Scam Tracker.

Charitable organizations must register with the state before soliciting contributions in Florida, and those that raise $50,000 or more in the aftermath of natural disasters or other crises must submit specific information, said Commissioner Adam Putnam.

These three gas containers cost Samantha Downie $105 to purchase empty but the Plantation resident says she didn't mind the cost and chose convenience and the necessity of running her generator over the cost.

These three gas containers cost Samantha Downie $105 to purchase empty but the Plantation resident says she didn't mind the cost and chose convenience and the necessity of running her generator over the cost. (Samantha Downie / Sun Sentinel Handout)